


Paying Respects

by Aaronlisa



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Original Character(s), Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17083457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: Giles pays a visit to his mother before leaving England for the USA.





	Paying Respects

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the 2018 Summer of Giles. Also I can't find anything on the Buffy wikia about Giles' mother and I don't recall her being mentioned. This is very much an AU but it presumes her to be alive.

He hates making this visit to the London townhouse. It's never been a pleasant trip but one that's full of obligation and bitterness. Still he feels that he owes his mother this visit, especially since he will be going to California for the unforeseeable future. Rupert Giles inhales deeply as he slides out of the cab and walks towards the front door. A member of his mother's staff opens the door before he can even ring the bell. It's almost supernatural. 

He's guided through the familiar hallway towards his mother's favourite sitting room. The only word to describe it is sterile. The colours in the room are shades of icy white and forbidding charcoal. The leather furniture is accented with steel and when his mother's butler brings in the tea service, it is an impersonal set of white porcelain with stainless steel. His mother glides into the room and she looks as cold and forbidding as he remembers her. 

For the most part, he had been raised by his grandmother and father in the country in a lovely, warm country home that hadn't screamed wealth. His mother's townhouse always has. Despite their differences in style, his parents have always been cold and forbidding in their parenting styles. 

"Hello Rupert." 

His mother allows him to greet her with a peck to her cheek before she waves him to a seat opposite of her own. She pours the tea and hands him a cup of Darjeeling tea, slightly sweetened. 

"Hello mother," Giles calmly says before taking a sip of the tea. 

He sets his cup and saucer down on the table and he tries to find the words that he needs to use to tell her about his move. Before he can work them out, his mother is already speaking. Her voice cold and her tone clipped. 

"I suppose you are here to tell me that you will be moving to California." 

"Yes mother," Giles tells her. 

"I think it's a fool's errand." 

"It's actually quite a honour to be chosen," Giles tells her. 

He tries to hide his annoyance at her dismissal but the way in which she purses her lips in a moue of discontent tells him that he has failed. 

"What happened to the girl's last Watcher? Was it a honour for him to die?" 

Hs mother's voice has hardened and he wants to defend his chosen path, Before he can she is already speaking. 

"I never wanted _this_ for you but your father insisted that you attend the correct boarding schools, that you be surrounded by the correct people and that you attend the correct colleges. I fear that he left you no other choice but to follow in his footsteps," 

"I believe that both Father and Grandmother wanted this for me." 

Giles is pleased when his mother grimaces at the mention of his grandmother. He hates coming to visit her because the verbal war that she insists on waging with him always leaves him emotionally drained. 

"You're wrong Rupert. Very wrong, but I suppose that your father let you believe that you would disappoint your grandmother if you didn't follow in their footsteps."

He wants to ask her why she's dredging up this old family history. None of it actually matters now but he remains silently as she sips her tea. 

"Your Grandmother Giles wanted for you to be happy, she didn't care if you became a Watcher or not. Your father insisted and when I tried to intervene, I was shipped off to London." 

"It hardly matters now," Giles tells her. 

He doesn't want to think that perhaps he had had a choice that his father had stolen from him. It serves no one anymore. What's done is done. His mother looks like she wants to argue the point but instead she takes another sip of her tea. Giles discreetly looks at his watch and tries to figure out how much longer he must stay before he can find an excuse to leave. 

"Before your arrival, I read the cards," 

The cup almost slips from his hands. He knows his mother's back story rather well, his father had often sneered about her start as the daughter of an impoverished earl who had to raise money by reading the tarot cards when they had first met. She has never once discussed it with her son. He doesn't know how to proceed. Is he supposed to ask her about it? Thankfully his mother is used to the patterns of their conversation so that she doesn't need for him to say anything to continue. 

"It was a simple reading, I won't bore you with the details but if you are insistent on this fool's errands then you must know that you face disaster, upheaval, indecision, unhappiness, and confusion." 

"If this some trick Mother to keep from me going, you will find that it won't work." 

"Hush you foolish boy, for once listen to me." 

Her cheeks are flushed and she looks excited or angry about it so he nods in response. 

"Your move to this Sunnydale will be one full of danger, although one doesn't need the cards to know this. You're going to a Hell Mouth. However, this change in your status within the Council is one that is not a good one. Be aware that people have hidden agendas and that you must listen to your inner voice. You have the potential to bring about sudden change but you may become a martyr as a result." 

She falls silent and he rises to stand awkwardly. He can't do this anymore. He had come here to say goodbye to her, to try one more time to make a proper connection with her. She is his mother and he is her son but he feels like they are stranger. 

"Goodbye Mother," Giles flatly tells her. "I don't know when I will be back in England again. I will write," 

"Don't bother." 

Her voice causes new wounds to open. Instead of expressing his pain, he curtly nods at her and walks away from her. He needs no guidance in this as he's been doing it for as long as he can remember. 

* * * 

Her butler enters the room to clear the tea things. He's been with her for years, ever since Rupert's father had exiled her to the townhouse for being an influence on their son. 

"Did he listen ma'am?" 

Her butler's question interrupts her reverie. She nods at him, indicating that no he had not. She can only hope that one some level he had heard her words for she fears for him. Her cards have told her that his posting to Sunnydale will be one full of fear and heartache for him. It will be full of restriction because her boy will try to challenge the status quo. All she can hope for is that he will make it out alive. 

((END))

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted at the DW community for the fest on July 8, 2018. I have made some minor spelling & grammatical edits to the story.


End file.
